with the Pact and probably with the Agency, too!" He leaned forward and jabbed a finger toward Ares' chest. "What the frak would you do if they took the Olympus and Lemuria away because of this?"
Ares lifted his chin and said, "They haven't discovered us."
"Yet," Zeus said. "Yet." He turned his chair around and leaned his face against his hand. After a few minutes, he said, "I got another message from Darro's people. I was going to ignore it." He glanced toward Ares and said, "I'm thinking maybe you should go. Now."
The Aetos began its landing procedures. Once it was safely on the ground, Ares stood and nodded toward his father. Silently, he left the shuttle, grabbed a case from the supplies outside and entered a dartship. As the other Psilons watched, confused, it lifted off and headed south into Tiberia.
CII
AHLJAELA
1 Day Before the End
Night was about to fall in Tiber. Fires blazed on its hills. Smoke poured into the air. Mobs roamed the streets. In the distance, the sounds of bombs simply joined the cacophony.
"They're getting closer," Thon said.
Ares pulled back his hood and looked west. "Yes."
The duo snuck from one overturned street stand to another. A large group of rabble moved past with clubs. They crashed through the windows and doors of a shop. Ares nodded away from them and Ahljaela followed.
They stalked through an alley and the smaller man said, "It all happened so fast."
Ares pressed his back against the wall and looked into the next square. He saw no one. "Caesar underestimated the Cylons. Again."
"Yes, but," Thon smiled a little, "I meant the revolution."
Ares looked at him and said, "The thing you had been working for happened and it surprised you?"
"Yes." Ahljaela laughed. "I lived in a vacuum. I didn't know if what we were doing was having an impact." The sound of a collapsing wall nearby forced them to turn and move into the next block. "The people finally had enough."
"Being invaded by millions of machines can help with sudden realizations." Ares pulled his satchel to his front and rifled through the opening. He was looking for something but he zipped it closed without removing anything. "Are you sure this is what you want?"
Thon nodded. "Yes."
Ares looked across the open square to the next alley. "On my mark." He turned his head and still saw no one. When he was about to move, his wristband beeped. "Shit." He pressed the lights and turned the volume down. In a loud whisper, he said, "Yes?"
The voice on the other end was tinny, but Ahljaela could hear it clearly enough from where he crouched. "Son?"
Ares inhaled sharply and said, "Yes, father?"
"I needed to call and let you know not to worry anymore." Ares furrowed his brow and glanced around while Zeus paused. "Olympus and Lemuria are in orbit and at the stations. We're ready on our end."
Ares nodded once and said, "That's good."
"Will you come back with us?"
The Psilon hesitated and stared at the road's surface for a moment. "Am I welcome?"
"You're my son and you're my general. I need you with me. I want you with me."
Ares looked at Thon. The young man was slumped against the cement bench and he was now staring at the ground. "Not yet."
"Why?"
"I'm still with Darro's cell in Tiber." Ares looked up again. No one was near. "We have a mission and I want to see it through." Thon smiled at Ares and he nodded in return.
Zeus paused now. Finally, he said, "I understand. Don't stay too much longer. Everything I'm seeing shows there could be a major Cylon push soon. Long-range planes at their airfields in Gela and Scythia. At their captured bases everywhere else. Something big is coming."
"Understood."
Softly, Zeus said, "Take care, son."
"I will." He tapped the wristband and said, "On my mark." He waved his hand and they ran the dozen or so meters to the next alley. They slid through the narrow passage quickly and then knelt at the other end looking out onto a major thoroughfare.
"Frak," Thon said. "It feels like we'll never get there."
"Patience." Ares watched a member of the Praetorian Guard ride past on a horse. "It seems that some units of the military are still in position."
Ahljaela looked over Ares and nodded. "We're close to Viminal Square. Another kilometer." While they watched, Thon tried to remember the last time he spoke to his father. Grandma's deathbed. And we didn't really talk then.
"I have an idea but we'll need to wait." Ares sat on the ground and pulled his dark hood up to his face again.
Thon leaned against the opposite wall and said, "I'm jealous."
Without looking away, Ares said, "Of what?"
"You." The Psilon turned briefly and Thon continued, "You still talk to your family. I haven't in years." Ares didn't respond. "Darro was the closest thing I had to a father. A real father, I mean."
Ares nodded and said, "I could see that. He cared for you a great deal."
Ahljaela felt a sad warmth swell in him and said, "One bad night and I'm all that's left. Everyone's either dead or in prison. If you hadn't come when I called, Ares, I don't know what I'd be doing tonight."
"You never started a family?"
"No." He lifted his hand and gestured toward a distant fire. "Didn't seem right if this is what I did for a living." Thon shook his head and said, "I'm not sure why I'm fighting at all."
The Olympian finally turned and looked at the de facto resistance leader. His dark eyes pierced through him and Ares said, "You're not fighting for family or emotion. You're fighting because it is right."
Ahljaela nodded. "I know the list of crimes the Caesar committed."
"And you're not correct about one thing. You are fighting for your family. You told me so."
Thon sighed and said, "The family I didn't have. I mean, I had them, but not really." He looked up at the smoky dusk sky. "My parents were almost in slave labor. They were never there for me. My grandmother tried, but her factory work," he scoffed, "it almost killed her every year. I was sent to work at a datafarm when I was eleven. I'm so stupid. I mean, truly stupid, because I was never allowed to finish school. I was sent to work."
Ares seemed to perk up at the sight of two Praetorians riding horses toward a nearby building. They stopped by an out-of-order fountain and dismounted.
"The generations of my family who were forced into factory work or power plants or whatever just because the Caesar said so." Ares began to stand and Thon turned toward the road. "Some of them chose to fight. I chose to fight."
Ares adjusted his satchel's strap and said, "Ready to choose again?" Ahljaela nodded. "Right or left?"
Thon looked toward the fountain and watched the two armored guards chat. The one on the left was taller. "I'll take the right."
Ares smiled and said, "Try to make it bloodless."
Quickly, the pair ran from the alley and then behind the horses, leaving the soldier on the other side. Ares moved to the left and Thon to the right. When Ares nodded, they both ducked around the horses and grabbed their targets.
The Psilon wrapped his beefy forearm around the throat of one Praetorian. With four quick squeezes, his larynx was crushed, and he gasped for air on the cobblestones by the dry fountain. Ahljaela managed to get a leather belt across the throat of his target, but the man was moving from side to side and trying to buck his attacker off. Thon grunted as he tightened the strap and, finally, the Praetorian fell to his knees. Now able to get a good foothold, the rebel pulled back on the belt again until the coughing went silent and the guard slumped over.
"Undress them, quickly." Ares immediately threw off his hood and coat. Thon followed suit and unbuckled the synthetic armor and belts of the Praetorian. A sword, rifle, handgun, ammo clips, communicator, knife, and more flopped onto the stones loudly. Ares looked around and saw no one. He peeled off the man's dark royal blue pa
nts and then unclipped the helmet.
A minute later, they stood, now looking like members of the Praetorian Guard. Ares lifted the two bodies and rolled them over the edge and into the fountain. He tossed his coat and hood on top of them. Ahljaela tried to tighten his armor and Ares leaned over to help.
"Now what?" Thon asked.
The Psilon straightened up, adjusted his helmet's chin strap, and walked over to the horses. "We ride."
It took Ahljaela a moment to get steady but then, once the creature found a good trot, he looked as though he belonged there.
A checkpoint loomed ahead as the road winded up toward Viminal Square. Ares leaned toward Thon and said, "Just salute when I do." They rode on with no change in their pace. Four Praetorians guarded the road ahead on foot and Ares brought his arm to his chest. He puffed out his torso as best he could while riding and Ahljaela did the same. The guard by the makeshift gate was about to stop them, but since the pair weren't slowing down, he stepped aside.
Soon the riders approached the Square and the high walls of the palace itself. Ares and Thon slowed down and moved their horses to service paths around the perimeter of the building. All along the walls, tribunes, consuls, servants, and more gathered to watch the war and the insurrection from afar. They stood and gasped, pointing at the distant fires and smoke. Ares looked ahead at the nearest watchtower and said, "Act natural."
They rounded a corner under the tower, and all of Viminal Hill opened beneath them. Wind howled around them, causing Thon to shiver. On walls, he saw more people standing and gawking. They rounded
Lords of Kobol - Prelude: Of Gods and Titans Page 84
